Vise



Sept. 29, 1970 M. G. STROMQUIST VISE Filed June 20, 1967 INVENTOR MARTIN G STROMQUIST Atty.

United States Patent 3,531,100 VISE Martin G. Stromquist, 123 S. London Ave., Rockford, Ill. 61108 Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 429,256, Feb. 1, 1965. This application June 20, 1967, Ser. No.

Int. Cl. B23q 3/06 US. Cl. 269-137 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending application, Ser. No. 429,256, filed Feb. 1, 1965, which has been abandoned.

This invention relates toa new and improved vise.

Vises invariably have the tightening screw running at right angles to the movable and stationary jaws, with the result that the work is merely clamped, but not held in, and, as a result, it is apt to become loose while being operated upon, especially if any hammering or severe jarring of the work is involved. It is, therefore, the principal object of my invention to provide a vise in which, by reason of downward inclination of the tightening screw at a small acute angle from the horizontal, in contrast to the substantially horizontal disposition of the screw in the conventional vises, coupled with good guiding of the movable jaw directly behind the work engaging face thereof, a much tighter hold on the work is obtained by reason of the downward and inward thrust on the movable jaw relative to the stationary jaw in the tightening of the vise.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a vise made in accordance with my invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view;

FIG. 3 is a cross-section on line 33 of FIG. 2, and

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic illustration of the invention showing the additional inward component for holding the work in, which is obtained as a result of the novel construction and mode of operation of the present vise.

The same reference numerals are applied to corresponding parts in these views.

Referring to the drawing, the reference numeral 5 designates the elongated generally rectangular base of the vise, which is slotted at opposite ends, as indicated at 6, to enable fastening the vise to a work bench or other suitable horizontal support, the generally U-shaped frame 7 of the vise being suitably secured to the base and providing a stationary vertical work-holding jaw 8 at one end and a vertical bearing boss 9 on the other end, in which an inclined threaded hole 10 is provided to accommodate the inclined tightening screw 11 of the vise. The screw 11, as clearly appears at X in FIG. 2 is inclined at a small acute angle from the horizontal, and the same is true, of course, of the hole 10 in which the screw 11 is threaded, the object being to obtain a unique kind of cooperation of the movable jaw 12 with the stationary jaw 8 to give a much tighter hold on the work, illustrated in dotted lines at W in FIG. 2, by virtue 3,531,100- Patented Sept. 29, 1970 ice of the additional downward component of clamping force represented by the arrow 13 in FIG. 4, where the arrow 14 represents the greater horizontal component. Jaw 12 slides on spaced parallel ways 15 that are inclined from the horizontal to the same extent as the screw 11, as indicated at X in FIG. 2, the ends 17 of the said jaw having correspondingly inclined bottom surfaces 18 engaging the ways 15, and parallel vertical side surfaces 19-19 that engage the parallel vertical side surfaces 20- 20 of the ways 15, to provide adequate guiding for the movable jaw 12, the ends 17 of the jaw projecting horizontally over the side portions 21 of the frame 7 to provide the same full width of contact with the work W as the stationary jaw 8. Good steady guiding action is obtained because the guide surfaces 18 and 19-19' on the jaw 12 extend rearwardly from the work engaging face of said jaw and are therefore in the closest possible proximity to said work engaging face.

In operation, the screw 11 is adapted to be turned by means of the handle 22 providedon the outer end thereof, the other end 23 being spherical shaped and engaged in a socket 24 provided therefor in the middle portion of the movable jaw 12, a screw 25 in the back portion of jaw 12 holding the ball-head end 23 of the screw in place in the socket. The jaw 12, upon coming into contact with the work W, exerts a downward wedging action thereon, instead of a straight forward clamping action, this being by reason of the downward and inward thrust indicated at 13 in FIG. 4, in addition to the main thrust indicated at 14 in FIG. 4, the component 13 being the result of the downward inclination of the screw stem at a small acute angle X with respect to the horizontal, in contrast to the conventional screw disposed horizontally and at right angles to the two jaws 8 and 12. The jaw 12, being closely guided, maintains a truly vertical position parallel to the fixed jaw 8 in its gradual descent by virtue of the specially constructed guides 18 and 19-19, thereby taking a much tighter hold on the work by reason of the downward and inward thrust on the movable jaw relative to the stationary one in the tightening of the vise.

It is believed the foregoing description conveys a good understanding of the objects and advantages of my invention. The appended claim has been drawn to cover all legitimate modifications and adaptations.

I claim:

1. In a vise comprising a frame on which a stationary vertical jaw is mounted and another vertical jaw parallel thereto is movable toward and away from the stationary jaw under action of a screw disposed in transverse relationship thereto and threaded in a bearing on said frame and having a swivel connection with the movable jaw at the mid-portion thereof and having means for turning the same in either direction for tightening or loosening the second jaw when an article is held between said jaws, the improvement which consists in means on the frame whereby the screw and its bearing are inclined downwardly at a small acute angle from the horizontal toward the swivel connection of the screw with the movable jaw, the jaws being elongated transversely relative to the screw, and the movable jaw having on its opposite ends coplanar guide surfaces that are parallel and in closely vertically spaced relation to the screw and inclined from the horizontal like the screw and slidably engaging correspondingly inclined coplanar ways provided on the frame, the movable jaw having in juxta position to said coplanar guide surfaces a pair of parallel vertical guide surfaces on its opposite ends parallel to the screw and slidably engaging a pair of parallel vertical guide surfaces provided on the frame parallel to the screw and alongside the inclined ways for guiding the movable jaw in its movement relative to the frame under action of the screw, said frame having a second pair of parallel vertical guide surfaces on opposite sides of and parallel to said screw in spaced parallel relation to the first-named vertical guide surfaces, one of said vertical guide surfaces of each pair extending upwardly relative to one of said ways and the other downwardly relative to said one way, and the movable jaw having another pair of parallel vertical guide surfaces spaced correspondingly relative to its first-named vertical guide surfaces for sliding engagement with said second pair of vertical guide surfaces on said frame, the guiding surfaces of the movable jaw at both ends extending directly rearwardly from the work engaging face thereof, whereby in the tightening of the screw said movable jaw serves to draw downwardly on the work while clamping the work between the jaws.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 10/1950 Fuhr 269l34 X 9/1956 Allbritton 269251 FOREIGN PATENTS 5,432 1907 Great Britain.

ROBERT C. RIORDON, Primary Examiner D. R. MELTON, Assistant Examiner 

